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Thursday, Dec 26, 2024
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Alleged cat killer remanded in custody
A 44-year-old man who came to Hong Kong with a two-way permit allegedly threw a domestic cat on the ground on the weekend, killing it, after he suspected that his 17-year-old son was scratched by the cat.
The jobless man, Zhang, was yesterday charged with one count of animal abuse after the 15-month-old domestic shorthair suffered serious injuries and died.
He was brought before the acting principal magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han at West Kowloon Magistrates' Court where his bail application was rejected.
No plea was taken from him and he is remanded in custody until March 13, pending a review by the prosecution on the suitability of the charge with the Department of Justice.
Zhang reserved the right to apply for a bail review within eight days.
At around noon last Saturday, police received a report from Zhang while in his flat in Fuk Wing Building in Sham Shui Po after the death of the pet cat.
Zhang apparently called the police and allegedly confessed to throwing the 15-month-old cat on the floor in a fit of rage after it scratched his son's face. He was then arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty.
It is understood that the man had told his son to "stop keeping the cat" but he refused and a quarrel broke out. The man then took the cat into a room, and allegedly threw it onto the floor.
The cat coughed blood and eventually succumbed to its injuries. It was later certified dead.
The case was referred to the Sham Shui Po police district criminal investigation unit, and the feline's body was collected by officers at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
If convicted of animal cruelty, Zhang is liable on summary conviction to a fine of HK$200,000 and imprisonment for three years.
In a similar case, Yuki Wong Yee-ting, sister of Miss Hong Kong Carmaney Wong Ka-man, was sentenced to community service for trapping her cat in a running washing machine, but won an appeal last November against her animal abuse conviction.
The 28-year-old Yuki Wong, an insurance agent, had posted a video on social media of her cat locked inside a spinning washing machine for 14 seconds in her Tin Shui Wai flat.
A High Court judge Albert Wong Sung-hau said the prosecution must prove to the court that Yuki Wong was the person who put the cat in the washing machine for the video to be admissible as evidence.
He was brought before the acting principal magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han at West Kowloon Magistrates' Court where his bail application was rejected.
No plea was taken from him and he is remanded in custody until March 13, pending a review by the prosecution on the suitability of the charge with the Department of Justice.
Zhang reserved the right to apply for a bail review within eight days.
At around noon last Saturday, police received a report from Zhang while in his flat in Fuk Wing Building in Sham Shui Po after the death of the pet cat.
Zhang apparently called the police and allegedly confessed to throwing the 15-month-old cat on the floor in a fit of rage after it scratched his son's face. He was then arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty.
It is understood that the man had told his son to "stop keeping the cat" but he refused and a quarrel broke out. The man then took the cat into a room, and allegedly threw it onto the floor.
The cat coughed blood and eventually succumbed to its injuries. It was later certified dead.
The case was referred to the Sham Shui Po police district criminal investigation unit, and the feline's body was collected by officers at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
If convicted of animal cruelty, Zhang is liable on summary conviction to a fine of HK$200,000 and imprisonment for three years.
In a similar case, Yuki Wong Yee-ting, sister of Miss Hong Kong Carmaney Wong Ka-man, was sentenced to community service for trapping her cat in a running washing machine, but won an appeal last November against her animal abuse conviction.
The 28-year-old Yuki Wong, an insurance agent, had posted a video on social media of her cat locked inside a spinning washing machine for 14 seconds in her Tin Shui Wai flat.
A High Court judge Albert Wong Sung-hau said the prosecution must prove to the court that Yuki Wong was the person who put the cat in the washing machine for the video to be admissible as evidence.
